End 9th, Mud Hens 6-4: The PawSox had plenty of chances on Thursday night, but in the end the offense just couldn't produce the runs.
Mauro Gomez put together a solid night, going 2-for-5 with a home runs and three RBIs to lead the Pawtucket offense. Jose Iglesias was solid at the plate as well, putting together a pair of singles and a couple walks on the night.
The big story of the night, however, may have been Junichi Tazawa's impressive performance. Tazawa struck out five of the seven batters he face in 2 1/3 innings. The reliever's outing showed a lot of promise and could have the Red Sox front office taking another look at his ability to contribute to the big club.
End 8th, Mud Hens 6-3: Junichi Tazawa is making a case to be called up to the Red Sox, like now.
The 25-year-old Tazawa, who already spent some time with the parent club this season, has struck out five of the seven batters he has faced on Thursday night.
If he keeps up at this rate, Tazawa will find himself back in Boston in no time.
Mid 8th, Mud Hens 6-3: I don't know if the PawSox offense is unbelievably anemic or if the Mud Hens pitchers are just MLB ready.
Toledo has now struck out 12 PawSox hitters on Thursday night, including a pair in the eighth inning.
If Pawtuckete doesn't get some run support soon, this could be the third-straight loss to the Mud Hens.
End 7th, Mud Hens 6-3: Junichi Tazawa may be back in the minors for the time being, but if he keeps pitching like this then he'll be back with the Red Sox in no time.
Tazawa struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, showing off solid control of his fastball and relying with his offspeed pitches to avoid any further damage to the PawSox.
Mid 7th, Mud Hens 6-3: Mauro Gomez drove in his third run of the night with an RBI single to right field.
Gomez leads the PawSox in just about every offensive category, putting up nine home runs and 25 RBIs on the season, so far.
End 6th, Mud Hens 6-2: The Mud Hens may have scored two more runs in the sixth but Daniel Nava gets the kudos on this half inning.
Nava, the same guy that smacked a grand slam in his first major league at-bat for the Red Sox in 2010, made a spectacular diving catch in left field for the first out of the inning.
Quinton Barry scored the fifth run of the night on a pair of throwing errors by the PawSox. Former Red Sox outfielder Eric Patterson added to the tally with a two-out double to drive in another run, ballooning the lead to 6-2.
Mid 6th, Mud Hens 4-2: A mid-inning pitching change stopped the PawSox from making up any more ground on the Mud Hens 4-2 lead.
Brooks Brown came on in relief of Casey Crosby to get the last out of the inning.
Alex Hassan led off with a walk, but Mike Rivera struck out followed by a Nate Spears flyout to center and Tony Thomas grounding back to Brown to cap things off.
Crosby's final stat line is pretty impressive, as he threw 5 2/3 innings giving up just three hits, two runs and striking out eight. The only pitfall was his command, as Crosby also walked seven on the night.
End 5th, Mud Hens 4-2: Pitcher Justin Thomas took over for Will Inman and threw a solid inning of relief.
Thomas, who was with the Red Sox until late last week, allowed a leadoff single in the inning but shut the Mud Hens down the rest of the way.
Thomas induced a popup and a pair of groundouts to cut short any chances of Toledo growing their lead and giving the PawSox a shot at cutting the deficit.
Mid 5th, Mud Hens 4-2: The PawSox took a big hack at Toledo's lead, and with one drive cut it right in half.
First baseman Mauro Gomez blasted his ninth home run of the season, driving in Jose Iglesias with the bomb and cutting the deficit to 4-2.
Pawtucket looked strong in the fifth and seems to finally have a bit more life offensively. If not for Crosby's eight strikeouts, then maybe the Sox would be firmly on top.
End 4th, Mud Hens 4-0: The PawSox found themselves in a world of trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. And the scoreboard reflects it.
Tony Pena Jr. finally found himself in a situation he couldn't wiggle his way out of and Toledo capitalized on the pitcher's inability to command the strike zone.
The PawSox hurler got knocked around in the fourth inning, allowing a leadoff walk followed by a pair of singles to load the bases. Then just as Pena looked like he might settle down, Mud Hens shortstop Argenis Diaz drove a line drive to left field and knocked in a pair of runs to give the Mud Hens a 2-0 lead.
The quick score forced a pitching change, as Will Inman came in to replace Pena on the mound. The reliever started off hot, inducing a ground out followed by catcher Mike Rivera's quick reflexes throwing out Toledo's Audry Ciriaco at third for two quick outs.
But the hurting continued, as Inman walked the next three batters, even walking home a run to increase the deficit to 3-0. A wild pitch made that 4-0 and suddenly the PawSox are in some serious trouble.
Mid 4th, 0-0: A leadoff single from Alex Hassan still couldnt get things going for the PawSox.
The single, followed by a walk by catcher Mike Rivera, appeared to set Pawtucket up for another scoring opportunity. But the door was quickly shut on those hopes by Mud Hens pitcher Casey Crosby.
Crosby struck out thrid baseman Nate Spears and got Tony Thomas to ground into a double play to get out of the inning.
Crosby has now struck out seven batters on the night, a season high for the tall left-hander. Still just 23 years old, Crosby looks like he may have a very bright future at the next level.
End 3rd, 0-0: Defense. Defense. Defense.
The bottom of the third was all about defense for the PawSox. A pair of stellar defensive plays held up the Mud Hens rally and helped out starting pitcher Tony Pena Jr.
Che-Hsuan Lin showed off some serious arm strength with one out in the inning. The centerfielder gunned down Mud Hens catcher Bryan Holaday at the plate, after a bloop single from second baseman Justin Henry appeared to score the game's first run.
Journeyman Catcher Mike Rivera then showed off some experience with a smart play at the plate to end the inning. Rivera picked up a bouncing grounder in front of home plate and tagged out first baseman Ryan Stieby to keep the game knotted up at 0-0.
Mid 3rd, 0-0: Well, that was quick.
Mud Hens' starter Casey Crosby is just mowing down the PawSox lineup through three innings.
After striking out four batters in the first two innings, Crosby came through with a quick 1-2-3 again in the third. Following a Daniel Nava ground out, Crosby K'd a pair of hot-hitting PawSox, including Mauro Gomez and Josh Kroeger.
Either Crosby will need to cool off or a PawSox hitter will need to do some serious work to break the right-hander's comfortable outing.
End 2nd, 0-0: Pena got himself out of trouble, yet again in the second.
The 31-year-old righty struck out Mud Hens' first baseman Ryan Stieby to start the inning. After an Eric Patterson single, Pena forced left fielder Jeff Frazier into a lineout and third baseman Audy Ciriaco into a ground out to third.
For a guy with a 6-plus ERA to start the night, Pena has looked very settled and controlled in the early going of this one.
Mid 2nd, 0-0: The PawSox put together another threat in the second inning, but to no avail.
Second baseman Tony Thomas kicked off the rally with a two-out single, and Che-Hsuan Lin followed with a walk to make it runners on second and third.
But, even with a pair of steals from the speedster Thomas, the rally ended with a Jose Iglesias flyout to deep center.
Thomas' two steals were a promising sign for the PawSox, though, as the 25-year-old infielder doubled his season total for steals, now with three.
End 1st, 0-0: After allowing a leadoff single to start the inning, pitcher Tony Pena Jr. relied on his defense to get him out of any trouble.
An infield fly followed by a pretty double-play ball, initiated by shortstop Jose Iglesias did the trick and got the PawSox out of dodge.
Iglesias looking solid in the early going, not only displaying the heralded defensive skills but also scorching a single to start off the game and displaying a bit of the plate presence many hoped he'd develop in the minor leagues.
Mid 1st, 0-0: The PawSox let a prime opportunity slip through the cracks to kickoff the game.
After getting the first two men on in the inning, Toledo starter Casey Crosby settled down and struck out three of the next four batters to squash any hopes of an early Pawtucket lead.
Jose Iglesias displayed some solid plate presence in his first plate appearance of the night, though.
Iglesias took one pitch before following through with a smooth swing and knocking a single into right field. The single moved Che-Hsuan Lin, who walked to leadoff the agme, onto second base and put the PawSox in a position to jump out to an early lead.
Crosby mowed through the next two batters, though, getting both Daniel Nava and Mauro Gomez to strike out swinging. Josh Kroeger fought off a few pitches to earn walk and load the bases, before DH Alex Hassan struck out swinging to end the threat.
6:30 p.m.: Here's Thursday's lineups for both sides.
Pawtucket (16-11)
Che-Hsuan Lin, CF
Jose Iglesias, SS
Daniel Nava, LF
Mauro Gomez, 1B
Josh Kroeger, RF
Alex Hassan, DH
Mike Rivera, C
Nate Spears, 3B
Tony Thomas, 2B
Tony Pena Jr., P
Toledo (16-9)
Quinton Berry, CF
Justin Henry, 2B
Matt Young, RF
Matt Strieby, 1B
Eric Patterson, DH
Jeff Frazier, LF
Audy Ciriaco, 3B
Argenis Diaz, SS
Bryan Holaday, C
Casey Crosby, P
6:25 p.m.: The PawSox are prepared to take the field down in Toledo.
Lars Anderson, who spent a few days with the Red Sox, is back with Pawtucket and seems primed to show off his power at the Triple-A level once again.
Tony Pena Jr. has been inconsistent on the year, showing flashes of brilliance as well as some serious struggles with Pawtucket. His last time, Pena allowed two runs in just 1/3 of an inning in a 6-4 loss to Columbus. He's hoping for a more settled outing this time around in Toledo.
8 a.m.: The Pawtucket Red Sox (16-11) are coming off a pair of tough losses to the Toledo Mud Hens (16-9) in the past couple days, but Ryan Lavarnway and the PawSox are hoping to turn things around.
Tony Pena Jr. (0-2, 6.10 ERA) will be getting the start on the mound for the PawSox, squaring off against Toledo's Casey Crosby (2-20, 5.00 ERA). The PawSox will be without offensive leader Will Middlebrooks, who was called up to Boston on Wednesday, but the Triple-A affiliate can still rely on Mauro Gomez and Daniel Nava to steady the offense.
The Mud Hens will focus their offense around first baseman Brad Eldred, who is hitting at a blistering .388 with 13 home runs and 35 RBIs.
Tune into NESN to catch all the coverage of the PawSox, starting at 6:30 p.m.
